TOW #13

Roxane Gay, American Author and writer for the New York Times, shared her story of racial profiling in a personal essay called, "My Receipt Was Not Good Enough." Gay wrote about a specific encounter with racial profiling in a Best Buy. Her recently purchased item still had the security tag on it, and set off the alarm. She showed her receipt to the employee standing by the door but he was hesitant to except it. Instead, he waited for the manager who brought over the person who checked her out, only for the cashier to say Gay did indeed buy the video game. All the while, the employee by the door let an old couple who set off the alarm through with Gay watching the whole time. Infuriated, Gay wrote My Receipt Was Not Good Enough, in order to express how racial profiling still exists and is a major issue, by including repetition and allusions. When describing the encounter, Roxanne Gay uses repetition to emphasize the neglect she was experiencing because of her race. She wrote, " I asked him what the problem was and he ignored me. I asked to speak to a manager and he ignored me" (para 4). By repeating the phrase "he ignored me," Gay is able to make it clear to readers that she was not being treated fairly. Not only did the employee let another couple with the same issue leave, he was not even acknowledging Roxanne's presence. As an employee it is his job to respect and communicate properly with a customer. The repetition is showing that the one employee was not the only one to ignore her. The repetition helps Gay express that this was in part to racial profiling because the employees that were ignoring her were helping non-blacks in the store. Along with this Gay includes allusions to show that racial issues are prevalent far beyond her. She writes, "I was mindful of Trayvon Martin and Renisha McBride and Eric Garner who lost their lives to racial profiling" (para 7). By introducing major names that the public knows were killed because of racism, Gay appeals to pathos. By alluding to the deaths of these three people, Gay evokes sadness and sympathy within her readers. By doing so, she is able to express how big of an issue racial profiling is. By including the three big names, it also shows that the racial barrier extends way farther than the walls of the best buy. Her allusions ties together her own story with the greater issue, which helps her express how prevalent racial profiling still is today. Her essay was not only eye-opening but very powerful and expressed an issue that needs to be stopped.  She effectively takes the idea of racial profiling and narrows it down to a spectrum that any reader could understand. Gay's courage of sharing her own story is helping the battle for equality stay afloat, and help erase stigmas that are still apparent, even if we like to think they are not.

TOW #12

Freakonomics is the work of a collaboration between Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. Levitt, an economist, joined powers with Dubner, an author, to create a book that teaches readers the hidden side to everything. After reading the beginning parts of this book, I realized nothing is ever as it seems. The numerous stories told in Freakonomics have changed my view on how the world works, and made me realized two completely different things could truly have a connection. Throughout the story, Dubner and Levitt use statistics, and narrative diction aimed toward the reader in order to keep readers interested and to teach the hidden connections of everything. The book makes many claims about things being connected in the world that don't make a lot of sense. As a reader, it could be hard to believe what you are reading is true. The authors include statistics in order to back up what they are saying. For example they wrote, "The teenage murder rate, instead of rising 100 percent or even 15 percent like James Alan Fox warned, fell more than 50 percent within five years. By 2000 the overall murder rate in the United States dropped to the lowest level in thirty-five years." Now readers have actual proof that the crime rate dropped. This appeals to logos, and makes the left field claims have more reason. This effectively helps readers believe what they are reading and make connections on the way things are connected. Along with this, Freakonomics uses narrative diction that speaks to the reader. This is a vital key in keeping readers engaged in a book that is full of facts and statistics. The book reads, "What do the numbers have to say about such cases? Here's the surprise: the amount of money spent by the candidates hardly matters at all." The narrative tone of the book helps improve the flow and make it feel more like a story rather then a fact chart. Along with this, the use of rhetorical questioning and addressing the audience helps engage readers. This helps keep the audience's attention long enough for them to realize the secret connections that happen everyday. I think that the diction of the book is the most important, because that is what has kept me intrigued. This book is by far one of the most interesting non-fiction books I've read, and I look forward to continuing it.

TOW #11

One of the main causes of death in the USA is from car accidents. There have been many attempts to try to diminish the number of these accidents, but none of these attempts have been quite like the one of  The Elm Grove Police. This police force used powerful captions and personalizing it to the driver on their new speed limit signs in order to convince drivers to drive within the speed limit. The sign contains a few powerful captions that really effect the purpose of the sign. Underneath where it says the speed limit, the sign has the slogan, "slower is better." This creates a soft tone of the poster, compared to usual slogans seen on campaigns that yell at their audience. It is stated as a fact to prevent defensive reactions from their audience. The more prominent caption on the sign, however, reads "days in hospital bed," replacing the usual "miles per hour" caption of drivers speed. This is an alerting sign to drivers. No one wants to end up in a hospital bed. The sign is saying if you continue driving at the speed you are, then you will end up hospitalized. This appeals to pathos, evoking fear and guilt within the audience. Drivers are most likely to slow down if they feel like they are going to harm themselves or others. Usually, drivers don't think of the consequences of their driving, but this sign forces them too. This goes hand in hand with personalizing the sign to the driver. The sign uses an automatic speed detector that tells drivers how fast they are driving. By doing so, drivers can see that it is their own speed next to the caption "days in hospital bed." This appeals to pathos as well, because they realize if it is their speed limit, then it will be their fault if someone ends up hospitalized. I think this speed limit sign is very powerful and really makes drivers think. It is a scary thought to think about a car accident, but this poster is allowing drivers to know to slow down if they are above the speed limit. However, I think this sign could also create more damage, because it seems very distracting to drivers. First they have to read all of the words, and next they are afraid of being in a hospital, and scared drivers are at a higher risk for crashing. However, the Elm Grove police did a great job at convincing drivers to slow down through their use of powerful captions and personalizing.

TOW #10

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, Arthur C. Brooks, writer for the NY times, released an article about gratefulness. He claims that even if you are not grateful, pretend to be until it starts happening. In "Choose to Be Grateful. It Will Make You Happier," Brooks uses scientific facts as well as personal anecdotes to express how acting grateful will lead to a better and happier life. The beginning of the essay introduces how acting grateful and thankful, even if it isn't always true, can create a more positive life. However, Brooks takes this accusation one step further, and backs it up with scientific evidence. He writes, "gratitude stimulates the hypothalamus (a key part of the brain that regulates stress) and the ventral tegmental area (part of our “reward circuitry” that produces the sensation of pleasure)." Including this piece of information brings his theory from being theoretical to being actual. By including evidence of how gratitude creates pleasure, as well as other case studies, Brooks appeals to logos, which creates a more logical connection for his audience. People are much more likely to trust theories like Brooks' when it is supported with science. Along with including scientific facts, Brooks also includes personal anecdotes to show how his theory has proven to be true in his own life. He shares a story about how a letter he received full of criticism and complaints about his book. Brooks decided to reply with a letter that expressed to his criticizer how grateful he was for him to take the time to read his book and send him a list of ways he could improve it. The criticizer later replied with a much friendlier and warmer letter and both him and Brooks were left feeling satisfied. This anecdote takes Brooks theory and shows the audience that it is proabable, because it has worked in a real life situation. Brooks acted grateful even when he wasn't and both him and the person who wrote the letter were leading happier lives. Both the use of scientific facts and personal anecdotes helped Brooks prove that acting grateful and thankful can create a more positive life.

TOW #9

The Washington Post posted a blog post written by former teacher and current High School Learning Coach, Alexis Wiggins. After 14 years of teaching, Wiggins decided to spend two days shadowing students. Her discoveries shocked her, so she decided to share them with the world. Wiggins writes her blog in sections labeled as 'key takeaways' involving her experience and how she would change her own class if she could to effectively show how teachers don't fully understand what it's like to be a student, and how schooling should be changed. Alexis wrote her article by splitting it up into three key takeaways. She began each takeaway with a summary of what her experience was, and then followed up with the things she would change if she was still a teacher. For example, after explaining how she found herself exhausted at the end of the day from sitting down and listening all day, she wrote about what she would change. One of them being, "build in a hands-on, move-around activity into every single class day. Yes, we would sacrifice some content to do this – that’s fine. I was so tired by the end of the day, I wasn’t absorbing most of the content, so I am not sure my previous method of making kids sit through hour-long, sit-down discussions of the texts was all that effective." This not only told the audience that school should be changed, but gave a key example of how it could be changed. Throughout her essay, she expressed that throughout her 14 years of teaching, she never realized what her students were experiencing. After reading the article, I found that I agreed with a lot of what she said. All of her take-aways began with a statement about students, and I found that most of them were applicable to my daily life as a student. For example, "Students sit all day and sitting is exhausting." In the majority of my classes, I am sitting the entire time, and by the time 1:00 rolls around I have trouble concentrating or keeping my eyes open. I think that Alexis Wiggins took on a very interesting endeavor, and I am interested to know if other teachers would find the same results if they were to take on the same project. 

IRB Intro #2

For my second IRB book, I will be reading Freakonomics by Stephen J Dubner and Steven Levitt. Dubner, an economist teamed up with Levitt, a famous journalist and author, to create the book. The book is written based on what they describe as "the hidden side of everything." The book focuses on why things happen, why people make decisions they do, and how things are or are not connected. I think I will enjoy this book because it offers a new way of viewing life. I really like reading about different interpretations people have and discovering ideas I never would have found on my own. The book was a New York Times Best Seller, and was even turned into a movie. I know many people who read this book last year for IRB, and they loved it. I think it will be a great choice.

TOW #8

One of the most haunting and effective chapters of Unbroken, is titled "200 Silent Men". Author, Laura Hillenbrand uses descriptions and imagry to express the horror and hardships the American prisoners had to face while being captured by the Japenese during World War II. The main character Louie was captured during war, and taken to a place called Ofuna. He soon learned that Ofuna was not a POW(Prisoner of War) camp, but a place off the records to the government where Japense interrogated high profile Americans. The title of the chapter becomes apparent to readers when it is revealed that none of the prisoners are allowed to speak. Louie faces harsh punishments, betrayal, and immense fear at his time at the camp. Hillenbrand writes, " There were rules about every detail of life, from the folding of blankets to the buttoning of clothes, each reinforcing isolation and total obedience" (199). This description expresses the severity of what was expected from the prisoners. They had no freedom to do anything, and there were consequences if they did not obey. Hillenbrand also writes, "Men were beaten for folding their arms, for sitting naked to help heal sores, for cleaning their teeth, for talking in their sleep" (200). This expresses how often they were attacked and how impossible it was to avoid being beaten. The descriptions and imagry created in these sentences by Hillenbrand appeal to pathos, allowing the audience to feel sad and afraid for the men in the interrogation center. This helps the author show the hardhsips the men and the main character Louie faced during his time as a prisoner. I think this chapter was necessary in telling Louie's story. His time spent at the camp played a huge role in shaping the man Louie becomes. Although it was one of the harder chapters to read, because it talked a lot about the torture these men faced, it was very effective in understanding Louie.